The present invention relates to an electronic apparatus including a display portion for displaying information, and particularly to an optical disc apparatus including a display portion for displaying information recorded and/or reproduced on or from an optical disc or a magneto-optical disc.
The present invention also relates to an electronic apparatus including a lid body, which is openable/closable with respect to an apparatus main body, and particularly, which has a display portion on its one surface.
Disc players of a type in which video information or music information is reproduced from a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) representative of an optical disc are known.
A portable disc player of this type includes a player main body for reproducing information from an optical disc, and a lid body openable/closable with respect to the player main body and having a display portion for displaying the information reproduced by the player main body.
The player main body includes a disc rotating mechanism for rotating an optical disc, and a reproducing mechanism having an optical pickup for reproducing information from an optical disk. The disc rotating mechanism has a disc table on which an optical disc is to be mounted, and a spindle motor for rotating the disc table. The reproducing mechanism has the optical pickup for reproducing information from an optical disc and a feeding mechanism for moving the optical pickup in the radial direction of an optical disc.
The lid body is turnably supported, at its one side end portion, by the player main body via a lid body turnably supporting mechanism, and has a display portion provided on its surface opposed to a principal surface of the player main body. The lid body is supported in such a manner as to be closable in a closed state in which the lid body is closed with the display portion being in contact with the principal surface of the player main body and to be openable in an open state in which the display portion is opened with respect to the principal surface of the player main body. The lid body turnably supporting mechanism has a turning shaft for openably/closably supporting the one side end portion of the lid body, and a bearing portion provided on the player main body in such a manner as to support both ends of the turning shaft.
The disc player configured as described above is operated as follows. First, the lid body is opened with respect to the player main body. At this time, the lid body is turned via the turning shaft of the lid body turnably supporting mechanism, and the display portion of the lid body is directed outwardly. Next, an optical disc is rotated by the disc rotating mechanism of the player main body and information is reproduced from the optical disc by the optical pickup. The reproduced information is displayed on the display portion of the lid body.
As described above, in the related art display player, a space occupied by the disc player in the open state in which the lid body is opened with respect to the player main body with a display screen of the display portion directed outwardly becomes larger than a space occupied by the disc player in the closed state. As a result, when the disc player is used in a passenger room, for example, in a railroad vehicle or a passenger airplane, there arises an inconvenience that the disc player in the open state occupies a space on a placing surface of a tray provided for a passenger seat.
In the related art disc player of this type, since the open state in which the display portion is opened with respect to the player main body is bulky, it is difficult for a user to certainly hold the disc player in a state in which the display portion is directed outwardly. Accordingly, the disc player of this type causes a practical problem that it is difficult for a user who straphangs, for example, in a railroad vehicle to use the disc player in the state in which the display portion is directed outwardly while holding the player main body by the disengaged hand.
A disc player of a type in which a display screen of a display portion is previously directed outwardly is known. Such a disc player, however, has a problem that the display screen of the display portion is liable to be damaged during a period in which the disc player is carried by a user. Accordingly, the disc player of this type is required to include a cover member for covering the display screen of the display portion. In this case, there occurs an inconvenience that the mounting/dismounting of the cover member is laborious.
A portable type or on-vehicle type navigation device for displaying topographic features is known. In this navigation device, a lid body having a displaying portion is turnable with respect to a device main body in a state in which the display portion is directed outwardly. The navigation system of this type, however, has a problem that since the display portion of the lid body is usually directed outwardly, the display screen of the display portion is easy to be damaged.
A portable video camera device of a type in which a display portion is movable to be reversed with respect to a device main body via a display portion turnably supporting mechanism is known. The video camera device of this type, however, has a problem that since an approximately central portion of one side portion of the display portion turnably supported by the device main body is turned via a turning shaft, the display portion turnably supporting shaft must be enlarged, with a result that the thickness of the entire video camera device becomes large.
By the way, a related art disc player includes a lid body opening/closing detecting mechanism for detecting a turning position of a lid body with respect to a player main body, wherein a display portion of the lid body is lighted out when the lid body is closed with respect to the player main body.
In general, the lid body opening/closing detecting mechanism of the related art disc player has a projecting portion for detection, which projects outwardly from the lid body side or the apparatus main body, and a detecting switch for detecting a turning position of the lid body when the projecting portion for detection is depressed along with the opening/closing operation of the lid body with respect to the apparatus main body. The projecting portion for detection and the detecting switch are provided at opposed positions of the apparatus main body and the lid body closed with respect to the apparatus main body.
The disc player having the lid body opening/closing mechanism, however, has an inconvenience that since the projecting portion for detection projects outwardly from the principal surface of the lid body on which the display portion is provided or the principal surface of the apparatus main body, the external appearance of the entire apparatus is degraded.
A related art disc player including another lid body opening/closing detecting mechanism is known. This detecting mechanism has a projecting portion for detection, which projects from an outer peripheral portion of a turning shaft provided in the lid body. In the disc player of this type, however, since the turning shaft having, on its outer peripheral portion, the projecting portion for detection must be sufficiently smaller than a thickness of the lid body, the total thickness of the disc player is required to be relatively large.
Accordingly, in the above-described related art disc player, since the projecting portion for detection is provided on the outer peripheral portion of the turning shaft provided in the lid body, the thickness of the lid body becomes larger, with a result that it is difficult to thin the entire disc player.
A disc player shown in FIG. 1 is also known.
Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a portable disc player 301 including a player main body 302 for reproducing information from an optical disc, and a lid body 303 openable/closable with respect to the player main body 302 and having a display portion 304 for displaying the information reproduced by the player main body 302.
While not shown, the player main body 302 includes a disc rotating mechanism for rotating an optical disc and a reproducing mechanism for reproducing information from an optical disc. While not shown, the disc rotating mechanism has a disc table on which an optical disc is to be mounted and a spindle motor for rotating the disc table. The reproducing mechanism has an optical pickup for reproducing information from an optical disc and a feeding mechanism for moving the optical pickup in the radial direction of an optical disc.
As shown in FIG. 1, the lid body 303 is turnably supported, at its approximately central portion of one side end portion, by the player main body 302 via a lid body turnably supporting mechanism 306. A display portion 304 is provided on a surface, opposed to a principal surface of the player main body 302, of the lid body 303. The lid body 303 is supported in such a manner as, to be closable in a closed state in which the display portion 304 is in contact with the principal surface of the player main body 302 and to be openable in an open state in which the display portion 304 is opened with respect to the principal surface of the player main body 302. The lid body turnably supporting mechanism 306 has a turning shaft 307 for openably/closably supporting the one side end portion of the lid body 303, and a bearing portion 308, provided on the player main body 302, for supporting the turning shaft 307.
The disc player 301 configured as described above is operated as follows. First, the lid body 303 is opened with respect to the player main body 302. At this time, the lid body 303 is turned via a turning shaft of the lid body turnably supporting mechanism 306, so that the display portion 304 of the lid body 303 is directed outwardly. Next, an optical disc is rotated by the disc rotating mechanism of the player main body 302, and information is reproduced from an optical disc by the optical pickup. The reproduced information is displayed on the display portion 304 of the lid body 303.
As shown in FIG. 1, the related art disc player 301 includes a locking mechanism 310 for holding the lid body 303 in a closed state in which the lid body 303 is closed with respect to the player main body 302. The locking mechanism 310 has a locking member 311 to be engaged with the lid body 303, an engagement recess 312 provided in the lid body 303, in which the locking member 311 is to be engaged, an operating member 313 for releasing the engagement state between the locking member 311 and the engagement recess 312 by the contact with the locking member 311, and a tensile coil spring (not shown) for biasing the operating member 313 in the direction where the operating member 313 is separated from the locking member 311. The locking member 311, which is typically made from a resin material, is provided in such a manner as to be projectable from the principal surface of the player main body 302. The engagement recess 312 is located at a position corresponding to that of the locking member 311 on the player main body 302 side. The operating member 313 is slidably provided on the player main body 302 at a position adjacent to the locking member 311, and is biased by a biasing force of the tensile coil spring in the direction where the operating member 313 is separated from the locking member 311. When the operating member 313 is slid against the biasing force of the tensile coil spring and is brought into contact with the locking member 311, to move the locking member 311 in the state being engaged in the engagement recess 312 into the player main body 302, thereby releasing the engagement state between the locking member 311 and the engagement recess 312.
In the above-described locking mechanism 310, when the lid body 303 is closed with respect to the player main body 302, the locking member 311 on the player main body 302 side is engaged in the engagement recess 312 of the lid body 303, to hold the closed state in which the lid body 303 is closed with respect the player main body 302. On the other hand, when the operating member 313 is slid, the engagement state between the locking member 311 of the locking mechanism 310 and the engagement recess 312 is released, to open the lid body 303 with respect to the player main body 302.
The above-described related art disc player 301, however, has the following problem. When an external force is applied to the lid body 303 closed with respect to the player main body 302, for example, by an impact caused by erroneous drop, the external force is directly applied to the bearing portion 308 of the lid body turnably supporting mechanism, and the locking member 311 engaged with the engagement recess 312 of the lid body 303, with a result that the locking member 311 made from a resin is easy to be broken.
The related art disc player 301 has another problem that in the case of providing the operating member 313 on the player main body 302 side, when the engagement state between the engagement recess 312 and the locking member 311 is released to open the lid body 303 with respect to the player main body 302, if the operation of the operating member 313 is stopped, the engagement state between the engagement recess 312 and the locking member 311 is returned, and consequently, it is required to slightly open the lid body 303 with respect to the player main body 302 while continuing the operation of the operating member 313 to release the engagement state. To solve such a problem, it may be considered to provide the operating member and the tensile coil spring on the lid body side; however, in this case, there arises an inconvenience that the thickness of the lid body becomes large.
The related art disc player 301 has a further problem that since it is difficult to catch the lid body 303 closed with respect to the player main body 302 by a finger after the engagement state between the engagement recess 312 and the locking member 311 is released, the operability in opening the lid body 303 with respect to the player main body 302 is degraded.
The related art disc player 301 has a further problem that in the case where the locking mechanism 310 has a mechanism (not shown) for allowing the locking member 311 to project from the principal surface of the player main body 302 by making use of a torsion coil spring or the like, such a mechanism can be easily operated by a user's finger, to allow undesirable projection of the locking member 311.
The related art disc player 301 has an additional; problem. Since the locking member 311 on the player main body 302 side is engaged in the engagement recess 312 of the lid body 303 side when the lid body 303 is closed with respect to the player main body 302, if an accuracy of the assembly of the lid body 303 with the player main body 302 is poor, there may occur a positional deviation between the player main body 302 and the lid body 303 turned with respect to the player main body 302. If such a positional deviation occurs, then the locking member 311 cannot be certainly engaged in the engagement recess 312 and, more concretely, the engagement state between the engagement recess 312 and the locking member 311 cannot be released, with a result that the closed lid body 303 cannot be opened.